Program gets rusty runners off couch, into motion

Team Playmakers team leaders Doris LaForge, front left, and Patty Kuptz lead members of the Couch to 5K runners club in stretches and warm-ups before heading out on the last workout run before an upcoming 5K.(Photo11: Gillis Benedict/Livingston Daily)Buy Photo

The goal was to build everyone up so they could run for intervals of at least two minutes and 30 seconds. At the same time, more advanced members geared up for a full 5K run.

“We’re getting there,” group member Jan Hartwig said during Thursday’s final practice before the weekend 5K.

The gradual build up provided a big enticement to join, Jane Robson said.

“You don’t have to do everything at once,” she said.

Membership in Couch to 5K programs is heavily — but not exclusively — female. Yet the local group includes at least one male runner.

Group leaders Kuptz, of Charlotte, and Doris LaForge of Williamston are affiliated with Team Playmakers, an Ingham County running group. That group, in turn, is affiliated with Playmakers, a running store in based in Okemos.

The Couch to 5K program, like Team Playmakers, emphasizes a concept known as Good Form running.

Good Form promotes “light and easy” motion.

“It’s a program designed to put less wear-and-tear on your body,” LaForge said.

Library staff coordinated the current Couch to 5K program to promote fitness after the long, cold winter.

Though a second session hasn’t yet been officially set, organizers believe the concept should prove popular in 5K-crazy Livingston County.

Information about Couch to 5K programs, including participation fees, is available on the Playmakers website http://www.playmakers.com/.